


What Friends Are For

by pasteldanhowells



Series: pff bingo 2019 [4]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barista Dan Howell, Barista Phil Lester, Crushes, Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-12-01 20:09:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20885183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasteldanhowells/pseuds/pasteldanhowells
Summary: Dan and Phil work as barista’s at Starbucks. But, after a night out with friends, Dan wakes up with a pounding headache and to make things worse, he realizes that he’s late for work. Luckily, his best friend is there to make the day better for him.





	What Friends Are For

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the pff bingo 2019: filled for the prompt ‘running late’, ‘starbucks sofa’ & ‘hangover’

Dan groans as his eyes slowly open up. The pounding headache is the first thing he’s greeted with, and he instantly regrets all of the drinking that he did last night. But, he was hanging out with some school friends, and they were celebrating an engagement. So, he had to drink.

Dan rubs his eyes tiredly, and looks over at the clock. He gasps when he sees that it’s past eleven o’clock in the morning. He was supposed to be at work a half an hour ago. His manager is going to kill him!

Dan instantly jumps out of bed, trying to ignore the horrible headache. He grabs his jeans, a t-shirt, and his apron as well before running out of his bedroom and quickly heading towards the bathroom. Luckily, Dan finds his Tylenol in shelf that should hopefully take care of his headache. There’s no way he’ll be able to go to work with a pounding headache. He’s been there before, and it’s not fun at all.

Dan gets on his new clothes, and then pulls out his phone.

The first thing he sees his worried texts from his co-worker Phil, asking where he’s at.

**to phil**:

_running late, hungover with a headache, but i’ll be there. cover for me if lisa asks?_

**to dan**:

_You’re lucky I like you Howell :/_

Dan sighs in relief, grateful to have a best friend like Phil who’s willing to cover for him at their work.

Ten minutes later, Dan finally makes it to the Starbucks where he works in London. He sneaks inside and quickly heads into the back, where he clocks in, and then he finds Phil.

“Finally! You’re here!” Phil exclaims the second he sees Dan walk into the room.

“Ow. Fuck, Phil. Did you not read the part where I said I was hungover?” Dan asks, groaning.

“Oh, sorry Dan. Didn’t you take Tylenol before you left?” Phil asks, frowning at the smaller man.

“Of course I took Tylenol, but it obviously hasn’t kicked in,” Dan mumbles, grabbing a hold of his head. “Lisa didn’t say anything about me being late, did she? I’ve been so worried about that, if I’m honest.”

“No, but she definitely knows you were late so I suspect she’ll say something to you later,” Phil tells him.

Dan sighs. “Great,” he mumbles. “Whatever. I’m just ready to get this day over with.”

“Dan, why on Earth would you even think about drinking when you knew you had to work the next day?” Phil asks as he follows Dan out of the back room.

“Listen,” Dan begins, earning a giggle from Phil, which causes Dan to smile. “I honestly only planned on having a couple of drinks, but we were celebrating. Things got a little out of hand. Do I regret my choices? Yes, at the moment I do, but I still had fun last night though, so you could say that it was worth it.”

“Well, I guess that’s all that matters then,” Phil replies with a shrug.

The rest of the day pretty much goes by as normal. Dan deals with his headache, but luckily they have Tylenol on hand for employees in the back so that helps a lot whenever it gets too much.

Dan honestly just wants to go home and sleep his hangover away.

Around two o’clock in the afternoon, Dan takes his lunch. He clocks out, and orders some ice cold water, not really feeling up to having any coffee. That probably wouldn’t go well with the headache he still has.

Dan heads straight over to the usual Starbucks sofa that he sits in every day, usually with Phil.

“How’s the headache?” Phil asks softly when he walks over after Dan takes a seat on the sofa.

“Still lingering,” Dan tells him, curling up on the sofa. “Still got a long way to go until I can leave too.”

“Well, I’m sure the day will pass by quickly,” Phil tries to assure him. “At least we aren’t super busy today.”

“You just fucking jinxed it,” Dan groans, leaning his head back.

Phil laughs. “What time do you get off tonight? Maybe I should go home with you tonight,”

“It’s just a headache, Phil. I’m fine. It’s not the first time I’ve been hungover, unfortunately,” Dan mumbles.

“Shut up, and let me be a good friend for once Daniel. Phil Lester knows the best cure for a hangover,” Phil argues, playfully glaring at Dan. “I’ll even take you home so you don’t have to walk home like usual. I think we get off around the same time anyways.”

Dan looks up at Phil fondly. “You really are the best friend. Have I ever told you that?”

“Of course. That’s what I’m here for,” Phil grins.

“Philip Lester!”

Phil cringes as soon as he hears their manager shouting his name.

“Uh oh. Busted,” Dan whispers, grinning as he looks up at Phil.

“Stop flirting, and get back to work!” Lisa shouts.

Phil groans, while Dan just laughs his head off over Lisa’s comment. “We weren’t flirting, Lisa!”

“I find that hard to believe,” Lisa retorts. “Are you two dating yet?”

“Oh my God, Lisa!” Phil exclaims, his cheeks instantly turning a bright shade of pink. “I’ll be going now.”

Lisa smirks proudly as she watches Phil head back over to the counter as quickly as his feet takes him. “Well then, I guess that’s one way to get your employees doing their job.”

“You’re just cruel, Lisa,” Dan says playfully, shaking his head.

“Yes, but you should be used to that by now,” Lisa says, grinning, before walking away.

**to phil**:

_i’ll take you up on that offer, btw ;)_

Phil looks over at Dan when he sees the message on his phone and glares at him, mouthing a simple ‘I hate you’ to him.

**to dan**:

_You’re the worst_

Dan can’t help but smile as he stares at the text from Phil, before sighing. He wishes nothing more than to be able to tell the older boy how he truly feels about him. They’ve been friends for a couple of years, since Dan started working at Starbucks, Phil being the one who trained him and taught him everything he knew. They instantly became friends, figuring out that they have more in common with each other.

Dan’s been too afraid to tell the truth to Phil though, purely afraid of rejection. If Phil didn’t like him back, then Dan wouldn’t know what he would do with himself. He’d have to quit and find another job.

Finally, six o’clock hits. Dan is officially done with his shift, but Phil still has a half an hour to go of his shift.

“This is so unfair,” Phil complains as he watches Dan relaxing on their sofa couch.

Dan looks over at Phil and smirks at him. “You’re almost there, buddy-” He looks down at his phone. “Twenty seven minutes left now!” He laughs when Phil chucks a Starbucks sample cup at him.

“We are no longer friends,” Phil pouts, resting his chin in his hands.

“Oh, please. You’re stuck with me for life now, Philly. You can never get rid of me,” Dan smirks.

Phil shakes his head at Dan, and then looks over when a customer walks into the coffee shop. Phil smiles, and stands straight. “Hello. What can I get for you today?”

When Phil finally gets off of work, he decides to join Dan on the Starbucks sofa, both of them exhausted.

“Today felt like it would never end,” Phil complains, sinking down into the chair.

“Be glad that you didn’t have to work with a pounding headache,” Dan grumbles, gently kicking Phil’s leg.

“That’s totally not my fault,” Phil says, rolling his eyes. “You should have just called off.”

“Need the money,” Dan sighs. “I wanna go home, but at the same time, I don’t wanna move, you know?”

Phil laughs. “This couch is quite comfortable. No wonder we’ve claimed it as ours,” he says.

“Ours,” Dan whispers, biting his lip slightly as he looks over at Phil.

Phil looks over at Dan. “I know you don’t wanna, but should we start heading home?”

“Wait a sec… you were being serious about that?” Dan asks, instantly sitting up on the couch. “Honestly, I’m fine Phil. My headache is practically gone now. You really don’t-”

“So, you don’t want my company then? I see how it is,” Phil pouts, earning an eye roll from Dan.

“Oh, come off it, Phil. You know I’m more than happy to have you over,” Dan says, gently nudging him. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to though.”

Phil shakes his head. “Nonsense. It’s not like I have anything better to do at home anyways. Might as well spend the night with my best friend, yeah? Besides, I already know that we both need to catch up on The Walking Dead. I hear the new season is coming out soon and I wanna be caught up before the season premiere!”

Dan lets out a laugh. “That’s true. We have a whole seasons worth to catch up on,”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Phil jumps up from the couch, and then pulls Dan up after.

Dan sighs fondly as he watches Phil excitedly lead the way out of the coffee shop. “One day I’ll tell him,” he whispers out loud to himself, before following his best friend.


End file.
